Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-11-23
MUSIC OF THE STREETS.
THE FORTY BRAYlNG BANDS OF
NEW YORK AND BROOKLYN.

A Census of the Discord Makers of the
Metropolis-The Leaderless Band of
Three Pieces-Hand Organ, Violin and
Harp-WhistIers.
Much that is musical, and more that is ear
rending and head splitting in its discord, is
footed, blown, ratified, squeaked and pounded
by the thousand odd players on instruments
who pick up living in the streets of New
York and Brooklyn. This regiment of itin-
Grant destroyers of harmony and disturbers
OF peace is made up of about ten divisions.
BY far the largest of these divisions is the
one that numbers in its ranks the gutter
bands. Then come the grinders of the
wheezy organs Next on the list are the
manipulators of the crank pianos The
banjo players follow in order, and then the
field is filed with the yiolinfits, harpers, cor
net soloists, pipers, singers and whistlers.
There are more than forty street bands
footing for pennies in the two cities every
pleasant day. Three or four of these bands
number eight or ten performers each, and
they get themselves up in pretty good style
so far as uniforms are concerned. The leader
| is usually a man of middle age, and, with the
| exception of the strong lunged individual
who operates the bass horn and the man who
helps the leader out on the cornet end, the
| players are all boys. They make pretty good
music when they are feeling we'll
Other street bands have as few as three
| pieces-cornet, alto and bass horn Bands OF
this description play in front Of saloons, and
they are usually leaderless Sometimes the
alto horn gets under way before the cornet
and its deeper toned neighbor, and just a,
frequently the bass horn starts in first. o.
all the noises that are forced through imper
feet horns, that of the leaderless band O
three pieces is unquestionably the worst
Yet these bands manage to pick up between
So and SS.a day.
THE ORGAN GRINDER
The organ grinder has long been with us
He is remembered by the oldest inhahitant
and, judging from the doleful strains o
Yankee Doodle and kindred selections tina
are heard on the street, the organs have bee
in use for many years This instrument j
immensely popular with the children. l
matters not how discordant its efforts q
music may be, they like it. In the tenemen
, house districts an organ grinder is sure
get five cents a tune, and it takes less tina
! u
methodical man at the crank. There ar
over seventy five old fashioned hand organ
in use in and about New York, and it is
|. poor day when they fail to charm 81 50 frou
: the children and mothers
The crank piano is natural outgrowth
: the hand organ. Progressive civilization d.
# manded something better than wheel
organs, and the rattlety bang piano was il
PRODUCED to fill the long felt want, as it wer
- 1t really has some claim on the public ca
In the first place it gives us music that
| comparatively new Snatches from the DO
ular comic operas are common with 1t, an
the way it renders them is not entirely vo
of interest. There are thirty street haL
pianos on regular duty.
! 1 Good banjo music is scarce on the stree
Of the dozen odd players who make their Ii
ie ing around town by humping this instr
: ment, all but one are negroes. There are tV
banjo players up town who know how to pli
- right we'll They frequent the saloons duril
the winter time, and whenever they find
y party of young fellows who are out for t
night they make good money. One can stal
more of banjo music than he can of any 9th
n kind. While the hand organ becomes int
N tue l. IiHttlit-I
5. with interest for an hour The banjo itini
W ants usually travel in pairs, and plantati
II melodies so with the music
VIOLIN AND HARP
- As nearly as can be ascertained there g
ten violin-harp combinations in existence
s New York city. These players are entitled
= more merit as musicians than any that pl
= on the street for what the public Is pleased
q give them. 1t requires years of training
u become at all proficient as a violinist .
u hafpist and it costs something, too. Out
u twenty five persons who undertake to mas
n the violin, not more than one is ever able
= make good music. Considering this fact {
II it is a fact, it is remarkable that all
a street violinists are capable musicians. Da1
~ weather and cracked instruments do much
make otherwise good music squeaky and {
agreeable.
~ The heyday Of the piper has passed, and
. pipes are now a novelty Once or twice
- year their peculiar music can be heard on
streets along the river front, but it doe:
,lly seem to take as it used to, and the pipers
lin. disguised and quit.
mt Three whistlers-a white man in Brook
ne a negro up town and negro down tow
an quicker their respective mouths to the la
popular airs on the city streets. For VII
III ling that appeals to ones change pocket
ORR negro up town has the decided advants
de has q way of rendering Way Dc
. Upon the Suwanee River" that is truly
~ lodious. The down town negro makes a
aN cialty Of whistling tunes that have va
tons. He can give you the ''Mocking b
IS in twelve different styles, and is practit
ne, on the thirteenth. He can initiate can
so cleverly that the birds own mo;
couldn't tell the difference
Singing in the street requires great
o. power, and it is hard work. The only
cesSful street singer in the two cities is
g, man about 80 years of age, whose voic
sweet and plaintive, and whose sad
brings her money when her efforts at V
entertainment fail-New York Star.